In some semiconductor production processes or glass-coating processes, a plasma of positive and negative ions is generated in a gas discharge chamber, for example to apply layers or to etch. During the production process, the plasma repeatedly extinguishes and is then re-ignited, especially when new substrates are introduced into the plasma chamber. In some processes, especially those in which several process steps are performed on a substrate, the plasma is repeatedly extinguished and then re-ignited. In addition, it may be that the plasma extinguishes by itself, especially under unstable process conditions. That also makes re-ignition of the plasma necessary. In some cases, plasmas have a lower operating voltage than ignition voltage. To ignite the plasma, therefore, it is necessary for a threshold to be exceeded at the beginning. That may be accomplished, for example, by using a more powerful plasma generator (power supply).